A gps antenna with anti-jam capabilities utilizes eight resonant loop radiator elements in a resonant exciter configuration to make available a primary and up to seven auxiliary antenna patterns usable with multi-pattern adaptive processing for anti-jam operation. Antennas as described enable desired radiation characteristics to be provided in a configuration of small size suitable for replacement of existing gps aircraft antennas which lack anti-jam capabilities, in order to enable reliable gps reception during airborne operations in the presence of interference or jamming. With enablement of multi-pattern adaptive processing, reduced-gain pattern notches or nulls may be employed to track and reduce the effect of incident signals which would otherwise jam or interfere with reception of gps signals.
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9. A gps antenna, usable for anti-jam operation, comprising:
a ground plane portion having a central axis and an outer periphery;
an excitation network; and
a plurality of radiating elements arrayed around said central axis, each said radiating element comprising:
a radiator portion extending above said ground plane portion from an outer location above said periphery toward said central axis and including a section conductively attached to and extending nominally perpendicularly to said ground plane portion upward from said periphery to said outer location; and
an exciter portion extending below said radiator portion from a position above said periphery toward said central axis and coupled to said excitation network; and
the gps antenna additionally comprising a central disk centered at said central axis, extending above said ground plane portion toward said radiator portion and conductively coupled to said ground plane portion.
1. A gps antenna, usable for anti-jam operation, comprising;
a ground plane portion having a central axis and an outer periphery;
an excitation network;
a plurality of radiating elements arrayed around said central axis, each said radiating element comprising:
a radiator portion extending above said ground plane portion from an outer location above said periphery toward said central axis and including a section conductively attached to and extending nominally perpendicularly to said ground plane portion upward from said periphery to said outer location;
a first capacitor portion capacitively coupled to said radiator portion and conductively coupled to said ground plane portion;
an exciter portion extending below said radiator portion from a position above said periphery toward said central axis and coupled to said excitation network; and
a second capacitor portion capacitively coupled to said exciter portion and conductively coupled to said ground plane section; and
a central disk centered at said central axis, extending above said ground plane portion toward said first capacitor portion and conductively coupled to said ground plane portion.
12. A gps antenna, usable for anti-jam operation, comprising:
a ground plane portion having a central axis and an outer periphery;
an excitation network; and
a plurality of radiating elements arrayed around said central axis, each said radiating element comprising:
a radiator portion extending above said ground plane portion from an outer location above said periphery toward said central axis and including a section conductively attached to and extending nominally perpendicularly to said ground plane portion upward from said periphery to said outer location; and
an exciter portion extending below said radiator portion from a position above said periphery toward said central axis and coupled to said excitation network;
said excitation network configured to make available output signals representative of:
excitation of all said radiating elements to produce at least one primary antenna pattern for gps reception; and
a plurality of auxiliary antenna patterns usable with adaptive processing to provide anti-jam gps operation, each said auxiliary antenna pattern having at least one pattern characteristic differing from each said primary antenna pattern and each other auxiliary antenna pattern.
2. A gps antenna as in
3. A gps antenna as in
5. A gps antenna as in
6. A gps antenna as in
(i) 45 degree counter-clockwise (CCW) progressive phase excitation of the radiating elements to produce a first circularly-polarized omnidirectional antenna pattern;
(ii) 45 degree clockwise (CW) progressive phase excitation of the radiating elements to produce a second circularly polarized omnidirectional antenna pattern;
(iii) 90 degree CCW progressive phase (PP) excitation of the radiating elements to produce a 90 degree CCW PP antenna pattern;
(iv) 90 degree CW progressive phase excitation of the radiating elements to produce a 90 degree CW PP antenna pattern;
(v) 135 degree CCW progressive phase excitation of the radiating elements to produce a 135 degree CCW PP antenna pattern;
(vi) 135 degree CW progressive phase excitation of the radiating elements to produce a 135 degree CW PP antenna pattern;
(vii) 180 degree progressive phase excitation of the radiating elements to produce an eight-lobe antenna pattern; and
(viii) same phase excitation of the radiating elements to produce a uniform phase omnidirectional antenna pattern.
7. A gps antenna as in
8. A gps antenna as in
excitation of all said radiating elements to produce at least one primary antenna pattern for gps reception; and
a plurality of auxiliary antenna patterns usable with adaptive processing to provide anti-jam gps operation, each said auxiliary antenna pattern having at least one pattern characteristic differing from each said primary antenna pattern and each other auxiliary antenna pattern.
10. A gps antenna as in
a first capacitor portion capacitively coupled to said radiator portion, conductively coupled to said ground plane portion and configured to provide impedance matching of said radiator portion.
11. A gps antenna as in
a second capacitor portion capacitively coupled to said exciter portion, conductively coupled to said ground plane section and configured to provide impedance matching of said exciter portion.
13. A gps antenna as in
a first capacitor portion capacitively coupled to said radiator portion, conductively coupled to said ground plane portion and configured to provide impedance matching of said radiator portion.
14. A gps antenna as in
a second capacitor portion capacitively coupled to said exciter portion, conductively coupled to said ground plane section and configured to provide impedance matching of said exciter portion.
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This invention relates to airborne antennas and, more particularly, to such antennas providing multiple beam excitation usable with anti-jam adaptive processing to suppress jamming and interference.
A variety of antennas have been made available for reception of Global Positioning System (GPS) signals for navigational and other purposes. A more critical objective than the mere capability to receive such signals, is the objective of enabling reception in the presence of interference or jamming signals. Interference may be the unintended result of reception of signals radiated for some purpose unrelated to GPS operations. Jamming, on the other hand, may involve signals intentionally transmitted for the purpose of obstructing reception of GPS signals. In airborne operations which are dependent upon use of GPS signals, deleterious effects of interference or jamming may be particularly disruptive.
For reception via a fixed-position antenna in the presence of interference signals incident from a fixed azimuth, for example, a reduced-gain antenna pattern notch aligned to suppress reception at the appropriate azimuth may be employed as an effective solution. However, for airborne operations a more complex solution is required. With an aircraft and its antenna operable in a variety of geographical locations and conditions, with constantly changing azimuth orientation during flight, interference or jamming signals may be incident from any azimuth and with constantly changing azimuth. At the same time, maneuvers such as banked turns of an aircraft, for example, tilt the aircraft and its antenna so that the interference or jamming signals may be incident from different and changing elevation angles.
A variety of adaptive processing techniques have previously been described. Such techniques typically provide an anti-jam capability based on provision of reduced-gain antenna pattern notches and alignment of such notches at the incident azimuth of undesired incoming signals. However, to enable practical employment of such techniques for reception of GPS signals under critical airborne operations, reliable, low-profile antennas providing a multi-beam capability suitable for anti-jam application are required.
Size constraints regarding aircraft antennas may limit the implementation of anti-jam techniques in the context of aircraft-mounted GPS antennas. For example, at present many military aircraft are equipped with a fixed radiation pattern antenna (“FRPA”) for GPS operation. This small size antenna (i.e., active antenna volume in inches of 3.73×3.73×0.86 height, within a radome) provides no multi-pattern capability to support adaptive processing for anti-jam operation. Available antennas generally do not enable such adaptive processing capabilities to be implemented in an antenna of that size.
Examples of prior antennas providing anti-jam capabilities in the context of airborne GPS antennas are provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,618,016 and 6,819,291, having a common assignee with the present application. The former patent describes, in particular, GPS antennas including four bent monopoles in combination with four slot elements to provide primary and auxiliary antenna patterns usable for aircraft anti-jam applications. The latter patent describes, in particular, GPS antennas including a circular array of eight monopole elements arranged to provide anti-jam capabilities.
Airborne applications may include large aircraft, smaller fighter and drone aircraft where small antenna size is important, and smaller objects such as missiles, guided bombs and other projectiles. In the latter categories of applications size, weight, cost and complexity become increasingly important, along with antenna anti-jam operational capabilities. For such applications, it is desirable to provide smaller antennas able to meet overall objectives of small size and low weight, cost and complexity, with concurrent high performance and the capability of providing multiple auxiliary antenna patterns usable for anti-jam adaptive processing for such applications.
Accordingly, objects of the present invention are to provide new and improved GPS antennas, and antennas which may have one or more of the following characteristics and capabilities:
small size, low profile configuration suitable for replacement of GPS aircraft antennas lacking anti-jam features.
In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a GPS antenna, usable for anti-jam operation, may include a ground plane portion having a central axis and an outer periphery, an excitation network and a plurality of radiating elements arrayed around the central axis. Each radiating element may comprise:
a radiator portion extending above the ground plane portion from an outer location above the outer periphery toward the central axis and including a section extending upward from the periphery to the outer location;
a first capacitor portion capacitively coupled to the radiator portion and conductively coupled to the ground plane portion;
an exciter portion extending below the radiator portion from a position above the outer periphery toward the central axis and coupled to the excitation network; and
a second capacitor portion capacitively coupled to the exciter portion and conductively coupled to the ground plane section.
The GPS antenna may additionally include a central disk centered at the central axis, extending above the ground plane portion toward the first capacitor portion and conductively coupled to the ground plane portion.
In GPS antennas pursuant to the invention, the excitation network may be configured to provide output signals representative of each of the following antenna patterns;
(i) 45 degree counter-clockwise (CCW) progressive phase excitation of the radiating elements to produce a first circularly-polarized omnidirectional antenna pattern;
(ii) 45 degree clockwise (CW) progressive phase excitation of the radiating elements to produce a second circularly polarized omnidirectional antenna pattern;
(iii) 90 degree CCW progressive phase (PP) excitation of the radiating elements to produce a 90 degree CCW PP antenna pattern;
(iv) 90 degree CW progressive phase excitation of the radiating elements to produce a 90 degree CW PP antenna pattern;
(v) 135 degree CCW progressive phase excitation of the radiating elements to produce a 135 degree CCW PP antenna pattern;
(vi) 135 degree CW progressive phase excitation of the radiating elements to produce a 135 degree CW PP antenna pattern;
(vii) 180 degree progressive phase excitation of the radiating elements to produce an eight-lobe antenna pattern; and
(viii) same phase excitation of the radiating elements to produce a uniform phase omnidirectional antenna pattern.
In other embodiments, antennas may be arranged to utilize only some of the above antenna patterns in different selected combinations.
In accordance with another embodiment, an antenna may include a ground plane portion having a central axis and an outer periphery, an excitation port and at least one radiating element. The radiating element may include a radiator portion extending above the ground plane portion from an outer location above the outer periphery toward the central axis and an exciter portion extending below the radiator portion from a position above the periphery toward the central axis and coupled to the excitation port.
For a better understanding of the invention, together with other and further objects, reference is made to the accompanying drawings and the scope of the invention will be pointed out in the accompanying claims.
The
In
More particularly, radiating element 6 (which is typical of the other seven radiating elements of
In
Exciter portion 40, as more clearly shown in
As shown and described, the first and second capacitor portions 32 and 42 may each take the form of a conductive plate, sheet or surface in parallel spaced relation below the innermost parts of the respective radiator and exciter portions 30 and 40 (i.e., part 30a of radiator portion 30). In this configuration, a capacitive value is provided by the spaced conductive surfaces, between which may be included a suitable dielectric material such as air, dielectric foam or a higher dielectric constant material, as may be determined by skilled persons for specific implementations. In other embodiments any suitable form and construction of capacitor devices may be utilized. Functionally, the capacitor portions 32 and 42 are configured to provide impedance matching (e.g., tuning) of the respective radiator and exciter portions for operation in GPS frequency bands, as will be further described.
As also shown in
On an overview basis, eight identical radiating elements are provided in the
In this configuration, the radiator portion 40 may be considered to function as a tuned loop element which is represented by the edge portions of the vertical and horizontal parts 34 and 30 of the radiator portion. With reference to
As already noted, antenna 10 of
(i) Mode I: 45 degree counter-clockwise (CCW) progressive phase excitation of the radiating elements to produce a first circularly-polarized omnidirectional antenna pattern.
(ii) Mode II: 45 degree clockwise (CW) progressive phase excitation of the radiating elements to produce a second circularly polarized omnidirectional antenna pattern.
(iii) Mode III: 90 degree CCW progressive phase (PP) excitation of the radiating elements to produce a 90 degree CCW PP antenna pattern.
(iv) Mode IV: 90 degree CW progressive phase excitation of the radiating elements to produce a 90 degree CW PP antenna pattern of omnidirectional form.
(v) Mode V: 135 degree CCW progressive phase excitation of the radiating elements to produce a 135 degree CCW PP antenna pattern of omnidirectional form.
(vi) Mode VI: 135 degree CW progressive phase excitation of the radiating elements to produce a 135 degree CW PP antenna pattern of omnidirectional form.
(vii) Mode VII: 180 degree progressive phase excitation of the radiating elements to produce an eight-lobe antenna pattern.
(viii) Mode VIII: same phase excitation of the radiating elements to produce a uniform phase omnidirectional antenna pattern.
As to mode I, for example, the above characterization indicates that the eight radiating elements are excited by equal amplitude signals with the phase of signals at each successive one of elements 1-8 having a relationship of −45 degrees relative to signals at the preceding element. It will be appreciated that antenna components generally provide reciprocal performance, so that while an antenna may be intended for reception of signals, description may be in terms of element excitation by the excitation network. Thus, during reception of GPS signals, output signals representative of the antenna pattern of mode I will be provided at port I. In other configurations pursuant to the invention, other excitation modes, different combinations of modes or fewer modes may be utilized.
Excitation network 50 is effective to provide eight modes each characterized by orthogonal excitation and low mutual coupling properties relative to the other modes. Known types of Butler beam forming networks provide such properties and, using established techniques, may be designed to combine GPS signals received by the eight elements 1-8 to provide the desired mode output signals at ports I-VIII as set out above.
Operationally, the array of radiating elements of
With availability of the eight antenna patterns as described, the RCHP omni pattern (mode I) can be utilized as the primary antenna pattern for reception of GPS signals. This pattern provides hemispherical elevation coverage with omnidirectional coverage in azimuth, as noted. Some or all of the remaining seven antenna patterns, the auxiliary patterns in this example, may be employed pursuant to known techniques of adaptive processing to actively combine one or more of such patterns with the primary RHCP pattern in order to form, orient and steer reduced-gain antenna pattern notches or nulls to suppress signal reception in the direction of interference and jamming signals. Using such multi-pattern adaptive processing techniques, the presence of interference and jamming signals can be constantly monitored and suppression actively implemented during flight of an airborne vehicle, for example. With the eight patterns available from the present antenna, skilled persons will be enabled to implement a variety of anti-jam signal processing techniques as appropriate to particular implementations and applications of antennas employing the invention. For example, on an active continuing basis one or more reduced-gain antenna pattern nulls or notches can be steered to or provided at the fixed or changing azimuth or azimuths appropriate to suppress reception of incoming interference or jamming signals which could interfere with or prevent reliable reception of GPS signals during airborne operations.
There has been described an embodiment of an antenna of small size with capabilities of providing a mode I pattern with omnidirectional coverage, circular polarization and hemispherical coverage in elevation, which can be employed as the primary beam for airborne reception of GPS signals. And further providing capabilities to provide anti-jam operation by use of any one or more of the remaining seven antenna patterns as auxiliary beams in combinations to provide notches or nulls when and where needed, via application of adaptive processing techniques. With these size and operational characteristics, antennas pursuant to the invention may, for example, be employed in a direct solution to the problem initially described regarding the absence of anti-jam capability in military aircraft relying upon use of a FRPA (fixed radiation pattern antenna) for GPS reception purposes. Thus, there has been described a type of CRPA (controlled radiation pattern antenna) of size and capabilities such that it may relatively simply be used as a replacement antenna compatible with the volume requirements of an existing FRPA, while providing comparable or better performance, plus the addition of anti-jam capabilities.
While there have been described the currently preferred embodiments of the invention, those skilled in the art will recognize that other and further modifications may be made without departing from the invention and it is intended to claim all modifications and variations as fall within the scope of the invention.
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